Hola amigos!! So it's been about a month in a half and I haven't had much time to write, but I am in Peru!! I am Lima, Peru which is the capital and it's huge. It is a totally different experience than the little beach city I was in Chile. I cried like a little baby when I left Chile, and I'm pretty sure I will cry when I leave here too! My host family is amazing, honestly so sweet they would do anything for me. I have a roommate here who is from Boston who is becoming one of my best friends.
All my classes are in Spanish...which is interesting
I am actually not doing half bad in them, and the students are surprisingly very open with me. Everyone thought I was from Argentina because when they do roll call they say your entire name, which is Nicole Fernanda Salerno. So the students assumed that because I had a "Spanish" name and was white I must be from Argentina...hahah! I explained it is my grandmother's name and my family is actually quite Italian and half Irish mom!!
So far we have gone on tours through the city, which have been amazing because the city is so huge! I have noticed that there is more poverty here in Peru than I saw in Chile, and my friend Crystal and I are thinking about joining this volunteer program that builds a library in the center of Lima than teaches English to kids...perfect!
We went paragliding in one of our first weeks here, and let me tell you how nervous I was. I couldn't even speak Spanish I was like, "Are you sure you've done this before!?" The instructors assured me that they had been doing it for 14 years, so I jumped off a mountain and went gracefully flying through Peru
We also went to a soccer game Chile vs. Peru (ohhh boy!) which was crazy. Not only is soccer obviously huge, but Chile and Peru are huge rivals. Both claim they are better at soccer, the founders and producers of Pisco, certain words are even fought over, pretty much anything they can fight over they do...which is funny because I love both places. I learned in my history of Peru class about the War of the Pacific where Chile and Peru fought each other and there have been issues over land between the two countries for a long time.
Last week for Semana Santa, Easter week, we went to the south of Peru to a city called Ayacucho. Ayacucho is like something out of National Geographic, much more native than modern Lima. We were stuck in a procession with these women dressed in black crying for Jesus. There were tons of people and dancing and drinking it was one huge festival. There were murals on the ground made completely of flowers, huge murals. We woke up the next morning at 4 am to go on an 11 hour tour throughout Ayacucho. We were buying snacks at the grocery store at like 4:30 and turned around to be serenaded for 20 minutes by a college group that performs traditional Peruvian folk songs, haha who would have thought!
We visited ancient Inca sites, including a rock that was carved out for blood sacrificing. The guide said if the blood flowed on both sides that meant a war was about to be lost, if the blood flowed down on one side a war was about to be won. We also purified ourselves by touching the water of an Inca fountain.
In the Andean mythology it was considered that Incas were descendants of the Sun, therefore, they had to worship it annually with celebration. Festivities were carried out by the end of the potato and maize harvest in order to thank the Sun for the abundant crops or otherwise in order to ask for better crops during the next season.
It was during the solstices when the sun is located the farthest point from the earth or vice versa, on this date the Quechuas (native people of the Andes who speak "quechua" language) had to perform diverse rituals in order to ask the Sun not to abandon its children. In our first weeks here we visited ruins in Lima and learned that Incas were not the only civilization present in this part of South America, there were many civilizations like the Moche, and Tiwanaku. Pretty cool stuff!
In two weeks is our long awaited trip to Manchu Picchu, can't wait be sure to check in.
P.S. Congradulations Dr. Parker!!!!!
